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Tag Archives: serving others

Some people like being the boss. People with that mentality can be worrisome – especially in connection to the church.

“But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.” (Matthew 20:25-26 NKJV)

A boss is not the same thing as a leader. Leaders work with others. Bosses tell others what to do.

Bosses are a part of a hierarchy that never steps back down to the bottom rung of the ladders to help others. They are where they are because they got themselves there. And they thoroughly enjoy it!

The boss mindset won’t work in the church … literally or metaphorically. It may be present, but it exists without the Lord’s approval.

The leader mindset is what it takes: service through example, humility, patience and perseverance. Carrying crosses, giving cups of water, offering words of encouragement and staying loyal to the chief shepherds script is the to-do-list of a leader.

If you like the being boss, you have a problem that can only be solved through the leadership of Jesus.

“And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”” (Matthew 20:27-28 NKJV)

Here’s an excellent article written by a good brother in Christ about overcoming setbacks and grief through serving others:

The Grieving Consolerby Joshua Gulley

I don’t know what kind of relationship Jesus shared with John the Baptizer. Did their separate callings take them in different paths in which they rarely got to see each other? Did they often visit one another while growing up? I do know that once they began their ministry, they each recognized the other’s role in the will of God, prophesied in the Scriptures. The Bible records compliments paid by each to the other when speaking to large crowds. When John sent messengers to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah, Jesus replied in a beautifully poetic fashion: “The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not made to stumble because of Me” (Matthew 11:5-6).

So they perhaps had some personal affection for one another. The Bible doesn’t say directly, but in Matthew 14 when Jesus heard that John had been beheaded, He “withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.” We can surmise that Jesus must have been seeking solitude in order to grieve the loss of His friend. Nowadays when a man’s relative dies, we gather to him in crowds to comfort and console him. But in this instance, it was Jesus who we would suppose needed consolation, yet the Scripture says He was the one who felt compassion for the crowd. Perhaps His retreat on the sea, thinking about John’s untimely death, His own death coming a relatively short time in the future, and the temporary nature of man’s time on earth made Him more sensitive to the present needs of His fellow-man. Whatever the case, here we see the ultimate fulfillment of the command to “look out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4).

And herein might we learn a lesson: perhaps there are some people who seem to retreat from society after loved ones die, becoming bitter and aloof, dwelling on their own sorrow and tribulation. The Master, however, did not do this. Rather, His grief seemed to create more room in His heart for the people who were still there. Lord, help us that grief in our own lives will cause us to count even more precious the ones remaining.

Josh teaches music at the High School level and he is a member of the Smithville Church of Christ